Mark 12:22-26

12:22 None of the seven had children. Finally, the woman died too. 12:23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, ¹  whose wife will she be? For all seven had married her.” ²  12:24 Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you deceived ³  for this reason, because you don’t know the scriptures or the power of God? 12:25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels ⁴  in heaven. 12:26 Now as for the dead being raised, ⁵  have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, ⁶  how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the ⁷  God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ⁸ 

¹ tc The words “when they rise again” are missing from several important witnesses (א B C D L W Δ Ψ 33 579 892 2427 pc c r¹ k sy^p co). They are included in A Θ Ë^1,(13) Ï lat sy^s,h. The strong external pedigree of the shorter reading gives one pause. Nevertheless, the Alexandrian and other mss most likely dropped the words from the text either to conform the wording to the parallel in Matt 22:28 or because “when they rise again” was redundant. But the inclusion of these words is thoroughly compatible with Mark’s usually pleonastic style (see TCGNT 93), and therefore most probably authentic to Mark’s Gospel.

² tn Grk “For the seven had her as wife.”

³ tn Or “mistaken” (cf. BDAG 822 s.v. πλανάω 2.c.γ).

⁴ sn Angels do not die, nor do they eat according to Jewish tradition (1 En. 15:6; 51:4; Wis 5:5; 2 Bar. 51:10; 1QH 3.21-23).

⁵ tn Grk “Now as for the dead that they are raised.”

⁶ sn See Exod 3:6. Jesus used a common form of rabbinic citation here to refer to the passage in question.

⁷ tn Grk “and the,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

⁸ sn A quotation from Exod 3:6.